Count Litta, owner of a family picture gallery in Milan, offered his collection to the Hermitage, sending a list of 44 works for sale and desiring that an agent be sent to Milan to carry on negotiations. Stepan Gedeonov, Director of the Imperial Hermitage, was despatched to Milan where he selected four paintings at a price of 100,000 francs. The most valuable of these was a Madonna and Child by Leonardo da Vinci. The painting was purchased on 12 January 1865 and has since then been called The Madonna Litta.